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Thursday, 24 May 2012

The US energy boom

purple scorpion has come up with an excellent point. As well as tackling negative propaganda about shale gas, we should also remind ourselves what good news shale gas and unconventional oil resources could be.

For example, The New Nostradamus has this post on a report that US unconventional oil reserves are as large as the world's entire proven oil reserves.

The theme is picked up by BusinessFeatures with a piece on the boom in US shale gas and oil production.

A boom in North American shale gas production in the past five years has resulted in sharp falls in domestic power and gas prices there and could turn North America from a gas importer into a large exporter, and a similar development is seen as under way in the oil sector.

“What happened in gas is happening in oil as we speak. The US will become a net exporter of oil and gas in the next decade and the global repercussions of this are unbelievable,” Daniel Jaeggi, the co-founder and head of global trading of Geneva-based commodities trading house Mercuria, said during the Reuters Global Energy and Environment Summit.

“It fundamentally modifies the geopolitical landscape, and this is bullish US,” he said.

“They will have the cheapest power, gas and oil and that could lead to an industrial revival as its industry becomes globally competitive again because of cheap energy,” he added.

Shale gas and unconventional oil reserves are potential game-changers. We could all benefit, especially our children and grandchildren.